Drug Prevention Survey
aims to curb drug abuse
PHILIPSBURG--The Executive Council has approved a project to develop target groups for specific intervention programmes aimed at drug prevention, Commissioner of Health Maria Buncamper-Molanus announced Wednesday.
Buncamper-Molanus told Wednesday’s Executive Council press briefing the project entails gathering baseline information on the local drug situation. The information gathered will include the causes, consequences and characteristics of persons involved with drugs, and their social networks.
She explained that due to the magnitude of the project, activities had been subdivided into various phases. In the first phase, a survey will be conducted amongst various target groups, of which the prison population will be the first.
Project Consultancy and International Management NV will be responsible for the two-month period of gathering information from the inmates. The firm will be charged with the responsibility of administering the questionnaires, analysing the data and presenting a report with the preliminary results.
She said several goals should be realised at the completion of the project, including demographic information on drugs/substance abusers through surveys conducted amongst students, parents, inmates and the out-of-school population. She said the impact of substance abuse and the psychological determinacy played a role in one’s behaviour in relation to becoming involved in drug use.
She said the project was important for the island territory, as limited data was available on the local drug situation. The available data is primarily of those persons who are being treated medically for their addictive behaviour. However, behaviour information on the adult population, prison population and other target groups is missing.
Additionally, she stated that a training course would be given this month to persons in the Windward Islands using the Rapid Assessment and Response (RAR) method, which will enable surveys to be carried out more effectively and efficiently. The training will be carried out in collaboration with Trimbos Institute of the Netherlands and The Quill Foundation of St. Eustatius, and is being financed by the Dutch Government.
